Video Recording Systems (VRSs), such as Personal Video Recorders (PVRs) and Digital Video Recorders (DVRs), allow a user to record programming events to a hard drive (e.g., as a recorded event) or to a storage buffer for later viewing. VRSs can store the last played position so that a user can resume the playback of a video program from the last played position. However, VRSs do not allow a user to tag or bookmark a particular video segment in a program for later reference purposes. Therefore, should the user wish to return to the particular video segment at a later time, this cannot be done without rewinding or fast-forwarding to search for the desired segment. For example, if the user wishes to show a particular news clip from a recorded news program to another person, the user must first take the time and effort to fast-forward or rewind to that point. The user can only return to the last played position and cannot jump to anywhere else in the recorded event.
Accordingly, it would be desirable and highly advantageous to have a method and apparatus for allowing a user of a VRS to create and manage video bookmarks. Such video bookmarks would allow a user to “jump” to a desired video segment during playback. Furthermore it would be desirable and highly advantageous to have a method and apparatus for defining durations for the bookmarks so that automatic playback from a set of bookmarks can be implemented.